diff --git a/karapace/schema_reader.py b/karapace/schema_reader.py
index 6b4047227..88600f70c 100644
--- a/karapace/schema_reader.py
+++ b/karapace/schema_reader.py
@@ -58,6 +58,16 @@
 KAFKA_CLIENT_CREATION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: Final = 2.0
 SCHEMA_TOPIC_CREATION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: Final = 5.0
 
+# For good startup performance the consumption of multiple
+# records for each consume round is essential.
+# Consumer default is 1 message for each consume call and after
+# startup the default is a good value. If consumer would expect
+# more messages it would return control back after timeout and
+# making schema storing latency to be `processing time + timeout`.
+MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_ON_STARTUP: Final = 1000
+MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_AFTER_STARTUP: Final = 1
+MESSAGE_CONSUME_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: Final = 0.2
+
 # Metric names
 METRIC_SCHEMA_TOPIC_RECORDS_PROCESSED_COUNT: Final = "karapace_schema_reader_records_processed"
 METRIC_SCHEMA_TOPIC_RECORDS_PER_KEYMODE_GAUGE: Final = "karapace_schema_reader_records_per_keymode"
@@ -120,11 +130,8 @@ def __init__(
     ) -> None:
         Thread.__init__(self, name="schema-reader")
         self.master_coordinator = master_coordinator
-        self.timeout_s = 0.2
-        # Consumer default is 1 message for each consume call
-        # For good startup performance the consumption of multiple
-        # records for each consume round is essential.
-        self.max_messages_to_process = 1000
+        self.timeout_s = MESSAGE_CONSUME_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+        self.max_messages_to_process = MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_ON_STARTUP
         self.config = config
 
         self.database = database
@@ -301,6 +308,7 @@ def _is_ready(self) -> bool:
         self.startup_previous_processed_offset = self.offset
         ready = self.offset >= self._highest_offset
         if ready:
+            self.max_messages_to_process = MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_AFTER_STARTUP
             LOG.info("Ready in %s seconds", time.monotonic() - self.start_time)
         return ready
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_schema_reader.py b/tests/unit/test_schema_reader.py
index 12a404ac5..052c3ef7f 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_schema_reader.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_schema_reader.py
@@ -10,7 +10,13 @@
 from karapace.config import DEFAULTS
 from karapace.in_memory_database import InMemoryDatabase
 from karapace.offset_watcher import OffsetWatcher
-from karapace.schema_reader import KafkaSchemaReader, OFFSET_EMPTY, OFFSET_UNINITIALIZED
+from karapace.schema_reader import (
+    KafkaSchemaReader,
+    MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_AFTER_STARTUP,
+    MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_ON_STARTUP,
+    OFFSET_EMPTY,
+    OFFSET_UNINITIALIZED,
+)
 from tests.base_testcase import BaseTestCase
 from unittest.mock import Mock
 
@@ -154,3 +160,27 @@ def test_readiness_check(testcase: ReadinessTestCase) -> None:
 
     schema_reader.handle_messages()
     assert schema_reader.ready is testcase.expected
+
+
+def test_num_max_messages_to_consume_moved_to_one_after_ready() -> None:
+    key_formatter_mock = Mock()
+    consumer_mock = Mock()
+    consumer_mock.consume.return_value = []
+    # Return tuple (beginning, end), end offset is the next upcoming record offset
+    consumer_mock.get_watermark_offsets.return_value = (0, 1)
+
+    offset_watcher = OffsetWatcher()
+    schema_reader = KafkaSchemaReader(
+        config=DEFAULTS,
+        offset_watcher=offset_watcher,
+        key_formatter=key_formatter_mock,
+        master_coordinator=None,
+        database=InMemoryDatabase(),
+    )
+    schema_reader.consumer = consumer_mock
+    schema_reader.offset = 0
+    assert schema_reader.max_messages_to_process == MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_ON_STARTUP
+
+    schema_reader.handle_messages()
+    assert schema_reader.ready is True
+    assert schema_reader.max_messages_to_process == MAX_MESSAGES_TO_CONSUME_AFTER_STARTUP